Microtomes are used, for example, to prepare thin sections of tissue that can then be investigated microscopically. Microtomes have for this purpose a knife holder having a very sharp blade. Disposable blades have become established in particular in the laboratory sector, a blade being disposed of after a number of sectioning operations and replaced with a new blade. One such knife holder is described in DE 10 2004 051 974 A1. Here the blades must be changed manually. As an improvement, DE 10 2007 006 826 B1 describes a knife holder in which blade changing is assisted by a driver. New blades are taken out of a blade supply container in which a blade stack made up of multiple blades is received in spring-loaded fashion. Blades to be disposed of are disposed of into a blade disposal container. DE 28 52 373 C2 discloses a blade dispenser having an integrated blade disposal container, although the blades must be conveyed into it manually.
It is desirable to improve the handling of the blade disposal container in particular for the case in which an automatic or mechanically assisted disposal of used blades is desired, in particular in blade changing apparatuses.